In mid-2025, military sources in Vietnam began circulating unconfirmed rumors that new multi-billion-dollar contracts with Russia were imminent.
Documents from Rostec identify Vietnam under the discreet label “Customer 704.” According to the sources and those documents, one deal could be worth ~$8 billion and include up to 40 new fighter jets.
You could read the article and yes that’s the whole point that Vietnam will likely never receive the jets it’s just a way to take take Vietnamese tax payer’s money and use it to sponsor ruzis.
Vietnam owes Russia 8B for the deal -> instead of paying which would void sanctions, they join with ruzis to help them launder oil and gas -> ruzis launder 8B oil/gas profits through Vietnam -> Vietnam maybe gets the jets in several decades if ruzia doesn’t collapse.